Governing information

ABSTRACT

A method and system for governing information is provided. The method includes receiving, by a processor, data defining a scope and context of an information governance project and information requirements data associated with the data. The processor classifies the information requirements data into concepts in accordance with a meta-model profile. The processor generates conceptual models and realization models in accordance with the meta-model profile. Governance roles are defined and assigned to informational assets within the conceptual models The processor selects a final architecture option and generates policy models in accordance with the governance roles, the informational assets, the meta-model profile and user input. A final architecture option is deployed and monitored, and governance events triggered and reports generated in response to changes in this deployed architecture option.

GOVERNING INFORMATION

This application is a continuation application claiming priority to Ser.No. 14/489,795 filed Sep. 18, 2014 which is a continuation applicationclaiming priority to Ser. No. 13/428,011 filed Mar. 23, 2012 now U.S.Pat. No. 8,874,507 issued Oct. 28, 2014.

FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and associated system for anindependent mechanism for governing information.

BACKGROUND

Managing and governing information and data comprises an inaccurateprocess with little flexibility. Allowing multiple systems to managedata may include a complicated process that may be time consuming andrequire a large amount of resources. Accordingly, there exists a need inthe art to overcome at least some of the deficiencies and limitationsdescribed herein above.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides receiving, by a computing systemcomprising a computer processor, first data defining a scope and contextof an information governance project, the computing system storing ameta-model profile; receiving, by the computer processor, informationrequirements data associated with the first data, the informationrequirements data conforming to semantics and syntax specified in themeta-model profile; classifying, by the computer processor, theinformation requirements data into concepts in accordance with themeta-model profile; generating, by the computer processor, conceptualmodels from the concepts and in accordance with the meta-model profile;generating, by the computer processor, realization models from theconcepts and in accordance with the meta-model profile; defining, by thecomputer processor, governance roles associated with the meta-modelprofile; assigning, by the computer processor, the governance roles toinformational assets within the conceptual and realization models;selecting, by the computer processor in response to the user commands, afinal architecture option; generating, by the computer processor, policymodels in accordance with the governance roles, the informationalassets, and the meta-model profile; modifying, by the computer processorin response to user commands, elements of the policy models resulting inmodified policy models; and deploying, by the computer processor, thefinal architecture option associated with the modified policy models andthe information assets.

The present invention provides computer program product, comprising acomputer readable storage device storing a computer readable programcode, the computer readable program code comprising an algorithm thatwhen executed by a computer processor of a computer system implements amethod, the method comprising: receiving, by the computer processor,first data defining a scope and context of an information governanceproject, the computing system storing a meta-model profile; receiving,by the computer processor, information requirements data associated withthe first data, the information requirements data conforming tosemantics and syntax specified in the meta-model profile; classifying,by the computer processor, the information requirements data intoconcepts in accordance with the meta-model profile; generating, by thecomputer processor, conceptual models from the concepts and inaccordance with the meta-model profile; generating, by the computerprocessor, realization models from the concepts and in accordance withthe meta-model profile; defining, by the computer processor, governanceroles associated with the meta-model profile; assigning, by the computerprocessor, the governance roles to informational assets within theconceptual and realization models; selecting, by the computer processorin response to the user commands, a final architecture option;generating, by the computer processor, policy models in accordance withthe governance roles, the informational assets, and the meta-modelprofile; modifying, by the computer processor in response to usercommands, elements of the policy models resulting in modified policymodels; and deploying, by the computer processor, the final architectureoption associated with the modified policy models and the informationassets.

The present invention provides a computer system comprising a computerprocessor coupled to a computer-readable memory unit, the memory unitcomprising instructions that when executed by the computer processorimplements a method comprising: receiving, by the computer processor,first data defining a scope and context of an information governanceproject, said computing system storing a meta-model profile; receiving,by said computer processor, information requirements data associatedwith the first data, the information requirements data conforming tosemantics and syntax specified in the meta-model profile; classifying,by the computer processor, the information requirements data intoconcepts in accordance with the meta-model profile; generating, by thecomputer processor, conceptual models from the concepts and inaccordance with the meta-model profile; generating, by the computerprocessor, realization models from the concepts and in accordance withthe meta-model profile; defining, by the computer processor, governanceroles associated with the meta-model profile; assigning, by the computerprocessor, the governance roles to informational assets within theconceptual and realization models; selecting, by the computer processorin response to the user commands, a final architecture option;generating, by the computer processor, policy models in accordance withthe governance roles, the informational assets, and the meta-modelprofile; modifying, by the computer processor in response to usercommands, elements of the policy models resulting in modified policymodels; and deploying, by the computer processor, the final architectureoption associated with the modified policy models and the informationassets.

The present invention advantageously provides a simple method andassociated system capable of managing and governing data andinformation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system to capture and manage informationrequirements, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2, including FIGS. 2A and 2B, illustrates an internal view of aconceptual and realization model of the meta-model of FIG. 1, inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an internal view of the policy model of themeta-model of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an internal view of the implementation mechanism ofthe meta-model of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5, including FIGS. 5A and 5B, illustrates an algorithm detailing aprocess flow enabled by the system of FIG. 1, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6, including FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C, illustrates a detailed internalview of the implementation mechanism of FIG. 1, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a computer apparatus used by the system of FIG. 1 forcapturing and managing information requirements, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 2 comprising a method 106, a meta-model 102,and an implementation mechanism 104 to capture and manage informationrequirements, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.System 2 additionally comprises information requirements 108, technicalsystems 110, and requirements implemented 112 in communication withimplementation mechanism 104. Meta-model 102 defines specifications formanaging information requirements and associated implementationincluding, inter alia:

1. Defining ontology's and logical information models to capturerequirements.

2. Defining realization models to deliver requirements using existing orplanned technical software and hardware systems and their interfaces,messages and data storage structures.

3. Defining a stewardship model to govern conceptual and realizationmodels.

4. Defining a policy model to configure how specific instances ofconceptual, realization, and stewardship models are configured forspecific customer needs.

Meta-model 102 is used to define artifacts used to describe andimplement information requirements, associated syntax (i.e., structure),and semantics (i.e., meaning). Meta-model 102 is structured into threesets of models (architectural views): Conceptual models, realizationmodels, and policy models. Implementation mechanism 104 uses meta-modelspecifications to capture and manage information requirements, policies,and model alternatives for delivering the requirements. Method 106defines a sequence of steps used by implementation mechanism 104required to describe the requirements and their delivery. System 2provides:

1. An ability to create models of information that represent a sharedunderstanding of key information requirements held by differentstakeholder groups.

2. The ability to manage the information requirements independently ofunderlying technology requirements, systems, and implementations.

3. A mechanism to systematically link different models of information(e.g., business requirements, logical models, implementation models,etc) so that an IT system landscape is understood in terms of theinformation it supports and may be directly traced back to businessrequirements.4. The ability to manipulate the different models to determine optimalmeans to realize the information requirements.5. The ability to understand the impact of change in informationmanagement requirements, implementation systems, or both.6. The ability to plan and implement information governance capability.7. The ability to integrate industry standard information models intooverarching information governance defined through system 2.8. Demonstrate compliance to data oriented regulations such as BASEL II;model and understand the impact of change in either informationmanagement requirements, implementation systems, or both; plan andimplement information governance capability; reduce the cost to createand maintain information management solutions; reduce the cost tomaintain an organization's information requirements

FIG. 2, including FIGS. 2A and 2B, illustrates an internal view of aconceptual and realization model 200 of meta-model 102 of FIG. 1, inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention. A conceptualmodels (of conceptual and realization model 200) defines a structure andmeaning of information management requirements captured fromstakeholders. A realization (of conceptual and realization model 200)defines a structure and meaning of how the captured requirements areimplemented in physical application systems, user interfaces, processes,and data storage systems.

FIG. 3 illustrates an internal view of a policy model 300 of meta-model102 of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.Policy model 300 describes how various artifacts from conceptual andrealization model 200 are configured to deliver specific informationmanagement outcomes from these requirements and how informationrequirements, assets, and technical systems may be governed, andactivity involving these reported on.

FIG. 4 illustrates an internal view of implementation mechanism 104 ofmeta-model 102 of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. Implementation mechanism 104 provides a technical system tocapture and manage requirements, technical implementation decisions, andgovernance policies. Implementation mechanism 104 utilizes a softwaretool running on physical computing system hardware. The software toolincorporates the following components:

1. A user interface 402 to capture information requirements fromstakeholders.

2. A UML interpreter 404 to instantiate or run a specification ofmeta-model 102.

3. A method interpreter 406 to instantiate phases, activities, and tasksdefined in method 106 to ensure requirements are captured in a correctorder following a format defined by meta-model 102.

4. A connector system 408 to connect to and operate common technicalsystems 412 used to manage information (e.g. databases).

5. A controller 414 to mediate interactions between the aforementionedcomponents.

In order to enable implementation mechanism 104, an informationstakeholder enters information requirements 418 into implementationmechanism 104. A Meta-model profile defining a syntax and semantics thatinformation requirements 418 must satisfy (when they are captured) usesa set of conceptual models defined by a meta-model profile 420. Themeta-model profile uses the set of conceptual models and steps specifiedby a method 422 to translate stakeholder requirements into specificinformation assets and policies (e.g., a customer asset that defines asyntax and semantics of a customer for an organization). The syntax andsemantics of conceptual models ensure that information requirementscaptured from different information stakeholders are compatible witheach other. Implementation mechanism 104 may additionally importexisting information model formats or data model formats used inexisting enterprise systems thereby ensuring that business and technicalstakeholders may integrate across diverse models and map informationmanagement requirements unique to an organization onto publiclyavailable information models and technical systems.

Implementation mechanism 104 uses two types of conceptual models(ontology model and logical information model) defined in meta-model420. The ontology model allows implementation mechanism 104 to capturerequirements as groups of related concepts (i.e., using an ontologydefinition language such as the ontology web language (owl)) so thatspecific concepts may be related to more general concepts. For example,an information stakeholder may define Customer as being a concept with aname and customer number conforming to a defined syntax. Implementationmechanism 104 is used to select an existing eCustomer concept and extendthe concept to include corporate customers (e.g., requiring acorporation name and address and company number), with the extensionbeing related such that properties and conditions that must be met for arequirement to be considered a customer flow from higher to lower levelconcepts). Implementation mechanism 104 mechanism ensures that technicalinformation solutions created to produce reports on customer informationmay assemble all required customer information from differentinformation sources without producing incompatible meanings fordifferent types of customers (for example, business customers, retailcustomers, private customers etc).

A logical information model provides a mechanism to integrate industrystandard information models into implementation mechanism 104. Theindustry standard information models may be expressed in UML or IDEFformats. If an organization mandates the industry standard informationmodels as standards, the logical information model may integrate thesemodels through a link between a concept instance and an entity inmeta-model 420. For example, a bank may use the IBM Banking DataWarehouse model and when a stakeholder creates the customer concept, itmay be linked to the customer entity in this warehouse model usingimplementation mechanism 104. A logical information model mayadditionally be used to capture information requirements that do notconform to any language constraints of ontology languages such as OWL(based on first order logic) used in the ontology model.

Implementation mechanism 104 uses four different realization modelsspecified in meta-model 420. The four realization models define howinformation requirements may be delivered through technical mechanisms.The realization models allow implementation mechanism 104 to trace frominformation requirements down to technical delivery of the realizationmodels within information solutions. The realization models include:

1. An entity realization model defining what information is visible, forexample in user interfaces or process steps.

2. A system realization model defining technical software and hardwaresystems used to manage information and their interfaces.

3. A stewardship realization model defining governance and securityroles.

4. A data realization model defining data structures that store andtransmit information and data.

Stakeholders may select concepts captured in the conceptual models andpopulate the entity realization model by marking these for visibility bythe different available governance roles which have been previouslyentered into implementation mechanism 104. The system realization modelis populated by information system configurations that may bepre-packaged for different information sources within an organizationand associated implementation platforms (hardware nodes and locationswithin the organization).

Implementation mechanism 104 additionally uses an information managementpolicy model specified in meta-model 420. The information managementpolicy model defines structured rules that may be assembled intocustomizable configurations of other artifacts defined throughmeta-model 420. The rules are triggered by events that define wheninformation assets (entities) change their state. Once an event istriggered, rule(s) are invoked that are linked to one or moreinformation management configurations used to configure one or more ofthe artifacts defined by meta-model 420. The aforementioned processallows stakeholders to define specific conditions and rules to governdifferent aspects (i.e., requirements and technical implementations) ofan organizations information management landscape. Information policiesmay additionally be used to configure implementation mechanism 104 tocontrol how information requirements are captured (e.g., to implementcompany-specific naming types, or pre-populate an ontology for theorganization with a skeleton appropriate that is subsequently filled outwith requirements from information stakeholders).

After requirements have been captured via the conceptual, realization,and policy models, implementation mechanism 104 may model alternativesby allowing users to modify the models to understand impacts onrequirements and implementations and deploy this configuration intoimplementation choices in one or more technical solutions. Thedeployments may utilize pre-packaged system realization models thatcapture semantics of commercial off the shelf software solutions formanaging information thereby allowing implementation mechanism 104 toconnect to the off the shelf software solutions and create required dataand reporting structures. The off the shelf software solutions arepopulated and configured using the conceptual, realization, and policymodels. If existing information and data may not be modified,translation data structures may be created within target technicalsolutions or within implementation mechanism 104.

System 2 enables full lifecycle traceability of information requirementsacross all models. As requirements are committed to deployment,implementation mechanism 104 comprises all required information tographically illustrate how a requirement is realized across differentmodels and technical systems 417 and 412. Additionally (as requirementschange), different stakeholders may enable implementation mechanism 104to model dependencies and impacts before committing them to deployment.Additionally, changes in governance policies for different informationassets, requirements, and realization choices may be modeled andunderstood before committing to deployment.

FIG. 5, including FIGS. 5A and 5B, illustrates an algorithm detailing aprocess flow enabled by system 2 of FIG. 1 for capturing and managinginformation requirements 2, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. Each of the steps in the algorithm of FIG. 5 may beenabled and executed by a computer processor executing computer code. Instep 502, a scope and context of an information governance project isdefined by a user selecting and customizing industry definitions in animplementation mechanism. The definitions are provided throughontology's or structured relationships between concepts (or terms) andare designed to describe concepts from specific industries (e.g.,government, chemicals, petroleum, telecommunications, etc). Therefore,the definitions reflect a type of industry a stakeholder may be workingwithin. Ontology's packaged with the implementation mechanism orpublicly available on the Web are provided. The implementation mechanismuses a meta-model profile to display (only) first through third levelsof the ontology's. A user interface allows the stakeholder to customizethe meta-model profile by adding or removing concepts and relationships.Upon completion, the implementation mechanism marks subject areas withinthe ontology model. In step 504, the stakeholders input informationmanagement requirements. The implementation mechanism displays highlevel subject areas that comprise a scope/context The stakeholdersextend the high level subject areas by adding concepts and attributes(e.g., a product may be extended with retail product and wholesaleproduct, etc) and relationships (e.g., a retail customer uses retailproducts, not wholesale products). The implementation mechanismconstrains these new concepts to conform to syntax and semanticsspecified in the meta-model profile (i.e. it controls the allowableformat and meaning of concepts and relationships). Step 504 continuesuntil a user is satisfied that enough requirements have been entered. Instep 506, the implementation mechanism profiles classified concepts andrelationships to extract concepts with a high degree of similarity(e.g., two customer concepts differing by only one attribute). Theconcepts are rationalized and presented to the user for merging. In step508, the stakeholders complete definition of information requirementsand establish linkages to other required information models to ensuretraceability by creating required conceptual models. Allowable types ofconceptual model are defined by a meta-model definition and includeontology's and logical information models. A sequence for creating theconceptual models is defined by the method 106.

The implementation mechanism displays the subject areas, input concepts,and relationships in a single diagram. The diagram represents acanonical ontology of information requirements representing sharedunderstanding of key information requirements held by differentstakeholder groups. A stakeholder is additionally allowed to select oneor more concepts for linking to subsequent models thereby providing amechanism to systematically link different models of information (e.g.,business requirements, logical models, implementation models,implementations, etc). The method 106 specifies that a next type ofmodel comprises a logical information model. The logical informationmodel allows stakeholders (e.g., technical specialists or informationarchitects) to add additional details to the business informationrequirements inputted in previous steps. The stakeholder is additionallypresented with an option to specify detailed information requirementsthrough one or more logical information models. In step 510, theimplementation mechanism presents a user interface option to visuallyconstruct logical information models using a visual diagramminglanguage. The stakeholders construct and link the model to one or moreconcepts in the ontology. In step 520, the implementation mechanismpresents a user interface option to import existing logical informationmodels. The imported logical information models are also linked to oneor more concepts in the ontology. The implementation mechanism supportsa range of commonly used formats for these models and may be configuredwith additional components to support further standard formats. In step521 the stakeholders create realization models that describe how theinformation requirements will be implemented in technical systems andhow governance relationships are traced throughout the differentinformation models. Allowable types of realization models are defined bya meta-model definition and include entity, stewardship, system, anddata realization models. A meta-model definition additionally specifiesallowed relationships between these models and how collected informationrequirements may be delivered through these models (e.g., how arequirement for customer reports will be assembled by technical systemsusing realized entities and data structures). A sequence for creatingthe models is defined by a method artifact that is consumed by theimplementation mechanism.

A stakeholder is presented with an option to specify one or more of therealization models. The implementation mechanism uses the meta-modeldefinitions to constrain semantics and syntax of the models. In step523, the stakeholders create an entity realization model by definingconcepts and/or entities from conceptual models that are visible tousers (e.g., through a user interface to capture instances of customerdata or as data used in a process modeling step), thereby allowing theconcepts and/or entities to be modified by technical systems in thesystem realization model and stored and managed in storage systems inthe data realization model (e.g., through a database management system).In step 524, the stakeholders create a stewardship realization model bycreating roles and permissions for information assets stored in theimplementation mechanism. The information assets are assigned within theconceptual and realization models. The stewardship realization model maybe used to define roles and permissions in the system realization modeland the ontology model (and hence inherited in the logical informationmodel, entity realization model, and data realization model) therebyallowing the implementation mechanism to constrain changes toinformation collected in each model. The stewardship realization modeladditionally allows the implementation mechanism to define masterdata-type relationships for information managed by these systems. Instep 525, the stakeholders create the system realization model bydefining technical systems that will be will be used to manageinformation. The implementation mechanism provides a user interface thatallows the stakeholders to associate realizing systems and theirinterfaces with message standards and canonical message models from thedata realization model. The implementation mechanism allows thestakeholders to assign entities from the entity realization model torealizing systems for specified purposes such as, inter alia, exposinginformation to process models, allowing for user input to captureinstance-data such as a specific customer's details, etc. The userinterface allows the stakeholders to define which physical deploymentsystem or hardware a particular system is deployed onto. Alternatively,the user interface supports a mode where a user may use an importedtechnical configuration that pre-populates the interface with existingdefinitions of realizing systems, interfaces, and deployment systems. Instep 526, the stakeholders create the data realization model by definingdata structures necessary to manage information defined in other modelsand collected through the implementation mechanism. The data realizationmodel allows the implementation mechanism to trace from initialrequirements to physical storage systems and illustrate a full lineageof how requirements are assembled from disparate sources of information.The implementation mechanism provides a user interface that allows thestakeholder to generate one or more data structures representing storagemechanisms for the information generated from the other conceptual andrealization models. The meta-model definition specifies that the datastructures may be generated automatically from realized entities fromthe entity realization model. The meta-model definition providescanonical message models to exchange information for the realizingsystems in the system realization model. The canonical message modelsmay be constructed automatically from logical information models. Thedata structure may be associated with realizing systems, interfaces, anddeployment systems to represent a complete technical landscape necessaryto manage information. In step 528, the implementation mechanism importsan existing technical configuration representing the system realizationmodel and data realization model for an organization. The existingtechnical configuration allows the implementation mechanism topre-populate the two aforementioned models with the actual systems anddata deployed by an organization thereby allowing stakeholders to usethis configuration to realize information requirements. In step 530,different combinations of a final information architecture are modeledto allow for determining an optimal manner in which to meet informationrequirements. The implementation mechanism provides a user interfacewith a current information landscape (architecture) configuration. Theuser interface allows the stakeholders to modify different elements ofthe landscape (i.e., different elements from the conceptual andrealization models) and the implementation mechanism analyses todetermine the impact this will have on other model elements. In step532, a final architectural option is selected in order to deliverspecified information requirements. In step 534, policy models areconstructed to govern the final information architecture option selectedin step 532, supra. The meta-model definition defines semantics andsyntax of the policy models that specify how policies are constructed.The implementation mechanism uses this specification to provide a userinterface to create and manage policies. The user interface allows thestakeholders to create a name for a policy and displays a list ofbusiness event types. Business event types are automatically generatedby the Implementation Mechanism from the meta-model 102 and inputrequirements, and if required, the Implementation Mechanism can providea user interface option to define additional event types. Thestakeholders select a business event type and populate allowable valuesbased on previously inputted information management requirements andrealization decisions (i.e., values from the conceptual and realizationmodels). The events are linked to an information usage rule that istriggered once the business event/value pair is detected. TheImplementation Mechanism provides a user interface to construct theserules, using pre-populated common operations to act on information (e.g.update, delete, add, multiple etc). Each information usage rule maymanage one or more information management configurations that arespecific model/value pairs for each element defined in the meta-model.For example, a detected business event (e.g., a pricing change on aproduct) may trigger a review cycle through a role defined for the pricesubject area. The implementation mechanism may assess that the realizingsystem issuing the message comprises a role of master for product andtherefore updates a data structure used to manage this master data witha new value. In step 535, a selected final option is deployedautomatically to supporting technical systems. The deployment allows forinformation requirements to be made live in information managementsoftware and hardware systems. The implementation mechanism uses aconnector subsystem and an information systems interface to establish abi-directional flow between one or more technical systems required tosupport the information landscape and policy governance described in theimplementation mechanism. In step 537, the implementation mechanismmonitors changes in information and data residing in technical systems.Using technical mechanisms defined in a connector subsystem, theimplementation mechanism uses an event processor to determine if thedeployed information architecture has changed. If no events are detecteda monitoring process continues. If an event is detected an informationusage rule associated with that event is triggered. In step 538,business logic defined in the information usage rule is triggered inresponse to a detected business event. For example, the implementationmechanism may detect a change in the price of competitor products andinvoke a pricing policy registered for that product. This policy definesa price match condition that updates a competing product price accordingto the business logic specified in information usage rule. Theimplementation mechanism then propagates this change to the technicalsystem responsible for maintaining product pricing. Once an informationusage rule has been triggered, three outcomes result in sequence. In thefirst outcome, the information architecture repository is updated with anew configuration determined by the business logic in the rule. In thesecond outcome, the implementation mechanism re-deploys the modifiedinformation architecture configuration. In the third outcome, agovernance report is created. In step 540, the implementation mechanismcreates reports detailing governance events and conditions for thedeployed information architecture configuration. The reports may betriggered automatically in response to information usage rules, or maybe manually triggered by stakeholders requesting a report on informationgovernance status and activity.

FIG. 6, including FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C, illustrates a detailed internalview of implementation mechanism 104 of meta-model 102 of FIG. 1, inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention. The meta-model 102comprises:

Existing ontology's 602 comprise a structured artifact (i.e., a file)authored in an ontology language (e.g. OWL) that describes concepts (orterms) and relationships between the concepts from specific industries(e.g., government, chemicals, petroleum, telecommunications, etc). Theartifact reflects a type of industry that stakeholders may be workingwithin. The ontology's are provided packaged with an implementationmechanism or publicly available on the Web. The artifact allows theimplementation mechanism to pre-populate common terminology for specificindustries thereby allowing business stakeholders to customize theartifact.

Internal information models 604 that include pre-existing informationmodels constructed previously by an organization in order to describedetailed information management requirements for specific business areas(e.g., a security domain model may describe detailed organizationalrequirements for securing corporate information by specifying whichconcepts from an ontology must be protected with specific access rightsand permissions). Internal information models 604 support existinginternal data and information model formats so that practitioners mayconsume relevant parts of information metadata in existing technicalsystems. The implementation mechanism supports a range of commonly usedformats for these models and may be configured with additionalcomponents to support further standard formats.

External information models 607 include pre-existing information modelsconstructed previously by an outside party. External information models607 describe detailed information management requirements for specificbusiness areas. The implementation mechanism supports a range ofcommonly used formats for these models.

A user interface 608 provides all user interfaces for use by differentstakeholders. The user interfaces are used to perform the following:enter requirements (high level and detailed), define how therequirements will be implemented through realization and policy models,link different models, explore model options, configure theimplementation mechanism, and import internal and external informationmodels.

An implementation mechanism controller 610 mediates flows of control andinformation between a user (via user interface 608) and all othercomponents embodying business logic, and information formats.

A method definition artifact 611 describes a sequence of steps forcreating different models defined in the meta-model. Method definitionartifact 611 is created using an XML format and is used by theimplementation mechanism to control which models are constructed in aspecified sequence by implementation mechanism controller 610 and userinterface 608.

A meta-model definition artifact 612 describes different types of modelsand their associated artifacts and inter-relationships that may becreated in an implementation mechanism tool. Meta-model definitionartifact 612 uses various model definitions to constrain howrequirements, information assets, policies and implementation choicesentered into a tool conform to the meta-model.

Policy interpreter component 614 is used to interpret informationmanagement policy defined in the implementation mechanism. Policyinterpreter component 614 ensures that policies entered through userinterface 608 conform to a syntax and semantics of the policy model-typedefined in the meta-model and that these policies have registeredbusiness events, information usage rules, and corresponding informationarchitecture configurations to manage.

A UML interpreter component 616 is used to create and/or validate UMLmodels created or imported into the implementation mechanism.

An OWL interpreter component 618 is used to interpret and validateontology models created via user interface 608. For example, astakeholder constructs ontology models using user interface 608 whichuses OWL interpreter component 618 to interpret them for compliance toan OWL 2.0 standard. OWL interpreter component 618 may be additionallyused when checking entered requirements to ensure similar requirementsare normalised to prevent divergence of similar informationrequirements.

Meta-model interpreter component 620 is used to interpret syntax andsemantics of different models created and managed in the implementationmechanism, according to the specification contained in the meta-modeldefinition 612. This allows the implementation mechanism to constrain astructure (syntax) and meaning (semantics) of requirements, informationassets, policies and implementation choices entered into theimplementation mechanism.

XML interpreter component 622 is used to interpret syntax of importedartifacts that have been written in XML (e.g., a method definition).

A method interpreter component 624 is used to interpret a meaning(semantics) of an imported method definition 611 and provides businesslogic (software algorithms and routines) to process user actions andconstruct models specified in method definition in a correct sequence.

An IDEF interpreter component 626 is used to create and/or validate IDEFmodels created or imported into the implementation mechanism. Thisoccurs when creating or importing logical information models via userinterface 608. For example, a stakeholder constructs or imports thesemodels using user interface 608 which interprets them for compliance toIDEF standards and allows the stakeholder to link these models to othermodels as defined by the meta-model.

A connector subsystem component 628 is used to connect to technicalsystems (in use within an organization) to manage information (outsideof the implementation mechanism). Connector subsystem component 628allows the implementation mechanism to consume or provide informationand data to and from systems through information subsystems interface629 thereby allowing the implementation mechanism to:

1. Consume data by inputting data and information into the realizationmodel and the data realization model.

2. Populate data by populating technical systems with information anddata necessary to realize information requirements.

3. Monitor technical systems for business events that represent changesin information and data as specified by the defined informationmanagement policies.

Information subsystems interface 629 is used by connector subsystem 628to connect to technical systems using industry-standard and proprietarycommunication interface definitions and technologies.

Event processor 632 is used by implementation mechanism controller 610to process business events arising in technical systems which in turntrigger execution of information management policies. Each definedpolicy logs a business event register entry (stored in implementationmechanism configuration 645) with this component thereby defining whichchanges in data or information values should be detected by theimplementation mechanism. Once logged, implementation mechanismcontroller 610 determines which technical systems store required dataand information values, then monitors these systems for any change insaid data and information. If the required data and information valueschange, implementation mechanism controller 610 calls policy interpretercomponent 614 to execute a registered policy corresponding to thosevalues.

Technical system component 638 represents technical informationmanagement systems used to store and manage data and information (e.g.,application servers, databases, content management systems, etc).

Business events 642 comprise events that result in a change indata/information within technical systems that are monitored by theimplementation mechanism. Business events 642 are used to initiateinformation management policies as part of an overall governance ofinformation stored within these systems, and are enabled by the eventprocessor 632.

Implementation configuration component 645 stores all data andinformation managed and used by implementation mechanism controller 610.

FIG. 7 illustrates a computer apparatus 90 used by system 2 of FIG. 1for capturing and managing information requirements, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. The computer system 90 comprises aprocessor 91, an input device 92 coupled to the processor 91, an outputdevice 93 coupled to the processor 91, and memory devices 94 and 95 eachcoupled to the processor 91. The input device 92 may be, inter alia, akeyboard, a mouse, etc. The output device 93 may be, inter alia, aprinter, a plotter, a computer screen, a magnetic tape, a removable harddisk, a floppy disk, etc. The memory devices 94 and 95 may be, interalia, a hard disk, a floppy disk, a magnetic tape, an optical storagesuch as a compact disc (CD) or a digital video disc (DVD), a dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memorydevice 95 includes a computer code 97. The computer code 97 includesalgorithms (e.g., the algorithm of FIG. 5) for capturing and managinginformation requirements. The processor 91 executes the computer code97. The memory device 94 includes input data 96. The input data 96includes input required by the computer code 97. The output device 93displays output from the computer code 97. Either or both memory devices94 and 95 (or one or more additional memory devices not shown in FIG. 7)may comprise the algorithm of FIG. 5 and may be used as a computerusable medium (or a computer readable medium or a program storagedevice) having a computer readable program code embodied therein and/orhaving other data stored therein, wherein the computer readable programcode comprises the computer code 97. Generally, a computer programproduct (or, alternatively, an article of manufacture) of the computersystem 90 may comprise the computer usable medium (or said programstorage device).

Still yet, any of the components of the present invention could becreated, integrated, hosted, maintained, deployed, managed, serviced,etc. by a service supplier who offers to capture and manage informationrequirements. Thus the present invention discloses a process fordeploying, creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and/orintegrating computing infrastructure, comprising integratingcomputer-readable code into the computer system 90, wherein the code incombination with the computer system 90 is capable of performing amethod for capturing and managing information requirements. In anotherembodiment, the invention provides a business method that performs theprocess steps of the invention on a subscription, advertising, and/orfee basis. That is, a service supplier, such as a Solution Integrator,could offer to capture and manage information requirements. In thiscase, the service supplier can create, maintain, support, etc. acomputer infrastructure that performs the process steps of the inventionfor one or more customers. In return, the service supplier can receivepayment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreementand/or the service supplier can receive payment from the sale ofadvertising content to one or more third parties.

While FIG. 7 shows the computer system 90 as a particular configurationof hardware and software, any configuration of hardware and software, aswould be known to a person of ordinary skill in the art, may be utilizedfor the purposes stated supra in conjunction with the particularcomputer system 90 of FIG. 7. For example, the memory devices 94 and 95may be portions of a single memory device rather than separate memorydevices.

While embodiments of the present invention have been described hereinfor purposes of illustration, many modifications and changes will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claimsare intended to encompass all such modifications and changes as fallwithin the true spirit and scope of this invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by acomputing system comprising a computer processor, first data defining ascope and context of an information governance project, said computingsystem storing a meta-model profile associated with a meta-model,wherein said meta-model comprises an implementation mechanism, andwherein said implementation mechanism comprises a software tool thatincludes: a user interface configured to capture informationrequirements from stakeholders for customizing the meta-model profile byadding or removing concepts and relationships; a UML interpreterconfigured to instantiate or run a specification of said meta-model; amethod interpreter configured to instantiate phases, activities, andtasks defined in a method to ensure that requirements are captured in acorrect order following a format defined by said meta-model; a connectorsystem configured to connect to and operate common technical systemsused to manage databases; and a controller configured to mediateinteractions between components; displaying, by said computer processor,high level subject areas comprising a scope/context for extending saidthe high level subject areas by adding or removing said concepts andrelationships; importing, by said computer processor, existing logicalinformation/data model formats used in existing enterprise systems;linking, by said computer processor, said existing logicalinformation/data model formats to at least one concept of said concepts;integrating, by said computer processor, business and technicalstakeholders across diverse models; mapping, by said computer processor,information management requirements with respect to an organization ontopublicly available information models and technical systems; receiving,by said computer processor, information requirements data associatedwith said first data, said information requirements data conforming tosemantics and syntax specified in said meta-model profile; generating,by said computer processor in accordance with a sequence for generatingmodels, conceptual models from concepts comprising said informationrequirements classified in accordance with said meta-model profile andin accordance with said meta-model profile, wherein said conceptualmodels define a structure and meaning of said first data, and whereineach concept model of said conceptual models comprises a subject areaand a concept instance; generating, by said computer processor inaccordance with said sequence, realization models from said concepts andin accordance with said meta-model profile, wherein said realizationmodels are configured to deliver requirements using existing or plannedtechnical software and hardware systems and associated interfaces,messages, and data storage structures, and wherein each realizationmodel of said realization models comprises a role, a realization userinterface, a realizing system interface, a canonical message modelcomprising message attributes, and a deployment system; associating, bysaid computer processor executing said realization user interface,realizing systems and associated interfaces with message standards andcanonical message models of said data realization models; assigning, bysaid computer processor, governance roles associated with saidmeta-model profile to informational assets within said conceptualmodels; generating, by said computer processor in accordance with saidsequence, policy models in accordance with said governance roles, saidinformational assets, and said meta-model profile, wherein said policymodels are configured to determine how specific instances of saidconceptual models, said realization models, and stewardship modelsconfigured to govern said conceptual models and said realization modelsare configured for specific customer needs; modifying, by said computerprocessor in response to user commands, elements of said policy modelsresulting in said modified policy models; and deploying, by saidcomputer processor, a final architecture option associated with saidmodified policy models and said information assets.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: synchronizing, by said computer processor,associated and related concepts of said concepts, wherein saidconceptual models are generated from said associated concepts.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said defining said governance rolescomprises: defining governance operations associated with saidgovernance roles.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:generating, by said computer processor, a meta-model view configured tocontrol a requirements capture process, a concept classificationprocess, an information model creation process, and a realization modelcreation process.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:monitoring, by said computer processor, said deployed final architectureoption for business events described in said policy models.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, further comprising: generating, by said computerprocessor, a governance report detailing said business events, businessrules triggered, changes in said deployed final architecture option, andadditional data related to the information assets defined in the saiddeployed final architecture option.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: triggering, by said computer processor, usage rules definedin the policy models that alter said final architecture option inaccordance with the said usage rules; and redeploying, by said computerprocessor, the final architecture option.
 8. A process for supportingcomputing infrastructure, the process comprising providing at least onesupport service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting,maintaining, and deploying computer-readable code in a computercomprising a processor, wherein the processor carries out instructionscontained in the code causing the computer to perform the method ofclaim
 1. 9. A computer program product, comprising a computer readablehardware storage device storing a computer readable program code, saidcomputer readable program code comprising an algorithm that whenexecuted by a computer processor of a computer system implements amethod, said method comprising: receiving, by said computer processor,first data defining a scope and context of an information governanceproject, said computing system storing a meta-model profile; receiving,by said computer processor, information requirements data associatedwith said first data, said information requirements data conforming tosemantics and syntax specified in said meta-model profile associatedwith a meta-model, wherein said meta-model comprises an implementationmechanism, and wherein said implementation mechanism comprises asoftware tool that includes: a user interface configured to captureinformation requirements from stakeholders for customizing themeta-model profile by adding or removing concepts and relationships; aUML interpreter configured to instantiate or run a specification of saidmeta-model; a method interpreter configured to instantiate phases,activities, and tasks defined in a method to ensure that requirementsare captured in a correct order following a format defined by saidmeta-model; a connector system configured to connect to and operatecommon technical systems used to manage databases; and a controllerconfigured to mediate interactions between components; displaying, bysaid computer processor, high level subject areas comprising ascope/context for extending said the high level subject areas by addingor removing said concepts and relationships; importing, by said computerprocessor, existing logical information/data model formats used inexisting enterprise systems; linking, by said computer processor, saidexisting logical information/data model formats to at least one conceptof said concepts; integrating, by said computer processor, business andtechnical stakeholders across diverse models; mapping, by said computerprocessor, information management requirements with respect to anorganization onto publicly available information models and technicalsystems; receiving, by said computer processor, information requirementsdata associated with said first data, said information requirements dataconforming to semantics and syntax specified in said meta-model profile;generating, by said computer processor in accordance with a sequence forgenerating models, conceptual models from concepts comprising saidinformation requirements classified in accordance with said meta-modelprofile and in accordance with said meta-model profile, wherein saidconceptual models define a structure and meaning of said first data, andwherein each concept model of said conceptual models comprises a subjectarea and a concept instance; generating, by said computer processor inaccordance with said sequence, realization models from said concepts andin accordance with said meta-model profile, wherein said realizationmodels are configured to deliver requirements using existing or plannedtechnical software and hardware systems and associated interfaces,messages, and data storage structures, and wherein each realizationmodel of said realization models comprises a role, a realization userinterface, a realizing system interface, a canonical message modelcomprising message attributes, and a deployment system; associating, bysaid computer processor executing said realization user interface,realizing systems and associated interfaces with message standards andcanonical message models of said data realization models; assigning, bysaid computer processor, governance roles associated with saidmeta-model profile to informational assets within said conceptualmodels; generating, by said computer processor in accordance with saidsequence, policy models in accordance with said governance roles, saidinformational assets, and said meta-model profile, wherein said policymodels are configured to determine how specific instances of saidconceptual models, said realization models, and stewardship modelsconfigured to govern said conceptual models and said realization modelsare configured for specific customer needs; modifying, by said computerprocessor in response to user commands, elements of said policy modelsresulting in said modified policy models; and deploying, by saidcomputer processor, a final architecture option associated with saidmodified policy models and said information assets.
 10. The computerprogram product of claim 9, wherein said defining said governance rolescomprises: defining governance operations associated with saidgovernance roles.
 11. The computer program product of claim 9, whereinsaid method further comprises: generating, by said computer processor, ameta-model view configured to control a requirements capture process, aconcept classification process, an information model creation process,and a realization model creation process.
 12. The computer programproduct of claim 9, wherein said method further comprises: monitoring,by said computer processor, said deployed final architecture option forbusiness events described in said policy models.
 13. The computerprogram product of claim 12, wherein said method further comprises:generating, by said computer processor, a governance report detailingsaid business events, business rules triggered, changes in said deployedfinal architecture option, and additional data related to theinformation assets defined in the said deployed final architectureoption.
 14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein said methodfurther comprises: triggering, by said computer processor, usage rulesdefined in the policy models that alter said final architecture optionin accordance with the said usage rules; and redeploying, by saidcomputer processor, the final architecture option.
 15. A computer systemcomprising a computer processor coupled to a computer-readable memoryunit, said memory unit comprising instructions that when executed by thecomputer processor implements a method comprising: receiving, by saidcomputer processor, first data defining a scope and context of aninformation governance project, said computing system storing ameta-model profile associated with a meta-model, wherein said meta-modelcomprises an implementation mechanism, and wherein said implementationmechanism comprises a software tool that includes: a user interfaceconfigured to capture information requirements from stakeholders forcustomizing the meta-model profile by adding or removing concepts andrelationships; a UML interpreter configured to instantiate or run aspecification of said meta-model; a method interpreter configured toinstantiate phases, activities, and tasks defined in a method to ensurethat requirements are captured in a correct order following a formatdefined by said meta-model; a connector system configured to connect toand operate common technical systems used to manage databases; and acontroller configured to mediate interactions between components;displaying, by said computer processor, high level subject areascomprising a scope/context for extending said the high level subjectareas by adding or removing said concepts and relationships; importing,by said computer processor, existing logical information/data modelformats used in existing enterprise systems; linking, by said computerprocessor, said existing logical information/data model formats to atleast one concept of said concepts; integrating, by said computerprocessor, business and technical stakeholders across diverse models;mapping, by said computer processor, information management requirementswith respect to an organization onto publicly available informationmodels and technical systems; receiving, by said computer processor,information requirements data associated with said first data, saidinformation requirements data conforming to semantics and syntaxspecified in said meta-model profile; generating, by said computerprocessor in accordance with a sequence for generating models,conceptual models from concepts comprising said information requirementsclassified in accordance with said meta-model profile and in accordancewith said meta-model profile, wherein said conceptual models define astructure and meaning of said first data, and wherein each concept modelof said conceptual models comprises a subject area and a conceptinstance; generating, by said computer processor in accordance with saidsequence, realization models from said concepts and in accordance withsaid meta-model profile, wherein said realization models are configuredto deliver requirements using existing or planned technical software andhardware systems and associated interfaces, messages, and data storagestructures, and wherein each realization model of said realizationmodels comprises a role, a realization user interface, a realizingsystem interface, a canonical message model comprising messageattributes, and a deployment system; associating, by said computerprocessor executing said realization user interface, realizing systemsand associated interfaces with message standards and canonical messagemodels of said data realization models; assigning, by said computerprocessor, governance roles associated with said meta-model profile toinformational assets within said conceptual models; generating, by saidcomputer processor in accordance with said sequence, policy models inaccordance with said governance roles, said informational assets, andsaid meta-model profile, wherein said policy models are configured todetermine how specific instances of said conceptual models, saidrealization models, and stewardship models configured to govern saidconceptual models and said realization models are configured forspecific customer needs; modifying, by said computer processor inresponse to user commands, elements of said policy models resulting insaid modified policy models; and deploying, by said computer processor,a final architecture option associated with said modified policy modelsand said information assets.
 16. The computer system of claim 15,wherein said method further comprises: synchronizing, by said computerprocessor, associated and related concepts of said concepts, whereinsaid conceptual models are generated from said associated concepts. 17.The computer system of claim 15, wherein said defining said governanceroles comprises: defining governance operations associated with saidgovernance roles.
 18. The computer system of claim 15, wherein saidmethod further comprises: generating, by said computer processor, ameta-model view configured to control a requirements capture process, aconcept classification process, an information model creation process,and a realization model creation process.
 19. The computer system ofclaim 15, wherein said method further comprises: monitoring, by saidcomputer processor, said deployed final architecture option for businessevents described in said policy models.
 20. The computer system of claim15, wherein said method further comprises: triggering, by said computerprocessor, usage rules defined in the policy models that alter saidfinal architecture option in accordance with the said usage rules; andredeploying, by said computer processor, the final architecture option.